Silanol compounds have been reported to possess antimicrobial activity. The antimicrobial activity may be due to high acidity and hydrophobicity relative to their alcohol counterparts. However, use of silanols as antimicrobial agents in medical device applications has drawbacks. For example, silanols tend to be volatile. Some silanols may also undergo condensation reaction and form siloxanes. Both of these characteristics of silanols tends to leave little initial silanol remaining by the time an implantable medical device containing the silanol is implanted in a patient.